Make travelling with children enjoyable

Imagine that you're going to visit your brother. He has moved 400 miles away so the trip will take awhile. You really want the kids to meet their uncle so they are tagging along. The last time they were cooped up in a car that long... well it's pretty painful to think about that!

You're already beginning to picture the scene. The whining and fidgeting soon turn to arguing and other childish pranks. At first you shrug it off but soon you are ready to scream. Everybody is upset.

The top complaints were:

23 of "Are we about there?"

19 of "Mom, sister's poking me."

10 of "Can I get something to eat?"

6 of "I'm tired of just sitting here."

What would be nice is something to keep those little ones entertained. How about something that they can think about for hours on end? It's too difficult to read going down a bumpy road (like they would do that very long anyway). The portable TV gets poor reception. The music comes in 3 or 4 minute songs, that's way to short for a whole trip.

I've got a better solution for you. Find yourself a cd player or even better a mp3 player like an iPod or the like. In late 2006 a SansDisk 2 Gigabyte player cost only 80 dollars. That's what I'm using. I've seen ads for some players as low as ten dollars. Be sure to bring this with you after you do the following:

1. Get on the web and go to a store selling downloadable audiobooks.

2. download a couple of audio books.

3. Plug the mp3 player into the computer.

4. Sync the book data to the player.

I know that no child will listen to a ten hour audiobook without breaks. That's about how much time a full novel would take. Just get what benefit you can from it. There are some shorter options. Many children's books are not nearly this long and some are dramatized for additional interest. Take that hour or two of quiet time and enjoy it.

I can picture something like this happening. You finally get to the end of the trip but the kids aren't quite done with the story. To your amazement you hear an unusual request. "I need you to go around the block a few times so I can hear the end." What you do next is up to you. Keep on going or just wait for the ride back home.

Having arrived at your final destination, you can get out of the car totally sane and with a positive attitude too.

If you're thinking, "It won't work for me," then consider this. Will you really know until you've tried it? Imagine the difference it could make. A fully dramatized version of "Treasure Island" would be a safe bet with which to begin.

Article Source: http://www.christiannotepad.com

This article is written by Daniel Brown, whose two chidren keep him busy. He also runs a downloadable audiobook store that features fun stories. Here you can find some d excellent audiobooks. ~ai601
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